Old browser warning

Site look funky?
Your browser is either Internet Explorer (hit refresh (F5) several times due to a bug in Microsoft's code
that we can't work around) or is 10 years old and
standards-based layouts and styling confuse it.
Consider updating. One excellent option is
Mozilla Firefox, versions of which are available for Linux, Mac and Windows. Safari 1.0+ and IE 6.0+ are also supported.

NY Attorney General Defends River Access

ATTORNEY
GENERAL SCHNEIDERMAN SUES TO PROTECT PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO TRAVEL ON ADIRONDACK WATERWAY

State Seeks to Stop Property
Owners from Using Intimidation Tactics Preventing People from Navigating Waterway

Property Owners Used Steel
Cables Across the Stream & Set Up Cameras to Intimidate Paddlers

ALBANY - Attorney
General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that the state has filed papers in Hamilton County
Supreme Court to join in a lawsuit in order to defend the public's right to travel on navigable
waters in the Adirondack Park.

Schneiderman is seeking an
order requiring the Hamilton County property owners, known as the "Friends of Thayer Lake,
LLC" and the "Brandreth Park Association" to remove the intimidating signs,
cameras and steel cables that they have placed across the Adirondack waterways that flow
between Lilypad Pond and Shingle Shanty Brook in an effort to prevent kayakers, canoeists, and
other boaters from traveling through their property.

"The public has a right
to travel and enjoy this beautiful waterway without being stopped or harassed," said
Attorney General Schneiderman. "I will not hesitate to defend the public's right to
travel on these or other navigable waters. My office will work closely with the
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to ensure that the public can once again enjoy
this waterway - which connects two state-owned wilderness areas in the Adirondack
Park."

In his filing with the court,
the Attorney General states that DEC has concluded that the waterway is navigable-in-fact and
that the attempts by the Friends of Thayer Lake to deny public travel along this state waterway
are illegal and constitute a public nuisance. Under the law, a navigable waterway may be
used as a public highway for travel, regardless of whether it flows over publicly or privately
owned land.

"For too long, paddlers
have been hindered by unlawful navigation rules along Shingle Shanty Brook, compromising both
the enjoyment and safety of one of the Adirondack’s most appealing wilderness
destinations," said Charles C. Morrison, Project Director for the Adirondack Committee of
the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. “We applaud Attorney General Schneiderman’s
commitment to defending the public right of navigation by removing these unlawful travel
blockades to New York’s waterways.”

"New York's lakes,
rivers and streams are integral parts of our natural heritage. To the greatest extent possible,
they should be open and accessible to everyone," said Marcia Bystryn, president of the New
York League of Conservation Voters. "We applaud Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for
intervening in this important case, and we look forward to having legal clarification that
affirms the public's right to travel - without blockage or harassment - on navigable waters
that are held in the public trust throughout the state."

The lawsuit in which
Schneiderman has moved to intervene, Friends of Thayer Lake, LLC. v. Brown, was brought
in Hamilton County Supreme Court after Phil Brown paddled the route between Little Tupper
Lake and Lake Lila, both located in the state-owned "William C. Whitney Wilderness
Area," in May 2009.

Brown traveled along lakes,
streams and ponds on State land as well as across a corner of the property owned by the Friends
of Thayer Lake and in which Brandreth Park Association has an interest. In November 2010,
the Friends of Thayer Lake filed a complaint against Brown for trespassing in state Supreme
Court (Hamilton County). In February 2011, the Friends of Thayer Lake amended their complaint
by requesting that the court make a determination on their assertion that they own the
sole recreational rights to the waters that traverse their property.

The case was referred to the
Attorney General by the New York State DEC, and staff from both offices worked cooperatively to
file the motion to intervene and counterclaim on behalf of the people of the State.

The Attorney General's office
has a long history of defending the public's right to navigate in state waters. In 1991,
then Attorney General Robert Abrams intervened to defend the public right of navigation in the
case The Adirondack League Club Inc. v. Sierra Club. Three successive Attorneys
General oversaw that case to its conclusion in 1998 when the Court of Appeals issued its
landmark ruling that recreational use of a waterway, and not just prior commercial use, could
be considered in determining whether a waterway is navigable and thus open to public
travel.

The case is being handled by
Assistant Attorney General Kevin P. Donovan of the Environmental Protection Bureau under the
supervision of Lisa M. Burianek, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau. Also
assisting in the case, Kenneth Hamm, Associate Attorney, DEC Office of General Counsel.